Having debuted regionally last year, Steven Dietz’s comic adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1923 mystery “Murder on the Links” is now bringing chuckles to International City Theatre (ICT) through Nov. 3.
A sometimes zany enactment of the novel, the play features astute detective Hercule Poirot (Louis Lotorto), his sidekick Captain Hastings (Daniel A. Stevens) and four other consummate actors (Gabbie Adner, James Simenc, Brian Stanton and Tina Van Berckelaer) performing all of the remaining roles – sometimes two at the same time.
While the plot is a bit long and convoluted – involving the body of wealthy Paul Renauld found dead on a French golf course, and romantic entanglements both present and past – you’re really watching for the actors becoming the different characters.
It helps that all of them excel in their various roles. Lotorto embodies the fastidious Poirot in a dapper suit and mustache (costumes by Kimberly DeShazo; hair and wig design by Anthony Gagliardi), indignantly correcting distortions of his name in his Belgian accent.
And Stevens makes a likable everyman Hastings, usually astonished at Poirot’s observations and deductions, amusingly exclaiming “Wow, what a question!” with perfect timing during the detective’s interrogations.
The remaining four actors gamely take on the challenge of all the other roles – and there are a lot as they race around the art-deco set (designed by Destiny Manewal).
Adner switches accents easily among her ingenue characters, which include an acrobatic British stage performer with a twin sister (hmm), an emotional French maid in the Renauld household, and the daughter of Renauld’s vaguely European neighbor (Van Berckelaer).
Van Berckelaer makes quick costume changes to play that mysterious neighbor, as well as Renaud’s German maid and British wife – who says she was bound by two men with South American accents who burst into her room on the night of her husband’s murder. Van Berckalaer also jumps into other minor roles, such as a taxi driver, with physical prowess.
Simenc moves fluidly between playing Renauld’s son Jack and Poirot’s rival but less competent French detective Giraud – and both at the same time in Act II, when all the characters must somehow come together for the whodunnit reveal.
And while Stanton delights as French characters (“tabarnac!”), he especially shines as the hilariously defiant Scottish station master who exclaims “Ha!” three times after every statement, emphatically attesting to Jack’s arrival and departure times on the night of the murder.
Under the direction of Todd Nielsen, the actors are meticulous both in their deliveries and intricately timed movements, so the audience is always clear as to what’s going on amid the surprising twists and turns.
However, pacing is somewhat slower than Dietz’s own campier direction of his play at its North Coast Repertory premiere last year (also performed at Laguna Playhouse), though this new production may quicken as the run continues, upping the laugh level even more.
Whether or not you’re a fan of murder (or golf), you’ll enjoy these six intrepid actors tackling this twisty mystery in a comic way – at one point even using bowling pins to explain its complexities. As Poirot has said, “If the little grey cells are not exercised, they grow the rust.”
International City Theatre’s “Murder on the Links” continues through Nov. 3 at the Beverly O’Neill Theater, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach, with shows Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $49 to $52 and can be purchased by calling (562) 436-4610 or visiting ICTLongBeach.org. Run time is 1 hour and 45 minutes, including intermission.
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